Nixon White House Tapes › Tape 23 › Conversation 023-114

Nixon phone call with Haig on Vietnam War and Air power

Tuesday, May 2, 1972 · 4:49 PM–4:51 PM ET · White House Telephone · 2 min

ParticipantsNixon, Richard M. (President); Haig, Alexander M., Jr.Conversation023-114 on Tape 23StartTuesday, May 2, 1972 at 4:49 PMEndTuesday, May 2, 1972 at 4:51 PMRecording deviceWhite House TelephoneSourceNixon Library record for 023-114 ↗

AI Summary

President Nixon and Alexander Haig discuss the deteriorating military situation in South Vietnam, specifically focusing on the evacuation of officials from Hue and the status of defensive forces. Nixon directs Haig to reconsider the tactical distribution of U.S. air power, urging a shift in concentration toward critical battlefronts rather than peripheral skirmishes. Furthermore, Nixon establishes a clear policy that North Vietnamese shelling of Hue will trigger an immediate removal of restrictions on bombing North Vietnamese dikes.

Audio

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Transcript (AI-generated)

This transcript was generated automatically by AI (WhisperX) and has not been reviewed for accuracy. Names and numbers are often wrong; speakers are not identified. Do not cite it as authoritative — verify against the audio and the finding aid.

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Hello, Al.
Hello.
Yes, Mr. President.
Oh, Al, I've got you in a meeting, have I?
No, sir.
As a matter of fact, I'm in the sauna bath.
Oh, good, good, good, good.
Well, that's good.
I hope you're fine.
I was just going to check...
Is there anything new?
I was looking at the paper and they're talking about the panic in Hue and that sort of thing, but there's nothing new that we have from your morning report, is there?
No, we have two reports on the Hue situation.
One is that there's an extreme nationalism that's very high with people wanting to be armed and to kill the enemy if they come.
Yeah.
Which is...
I hope we can get a little of that reported.
Yes, sir.
And some of it's bravado, of course, because they haven't gotten close enough yet.
Yeah.
And the other is that there are many, many officials moving their families south on the roads, and that there's some 4,000 on the roads south of way.
Well, that's expected, isn't it?
Yes, sir.
They... Let me ask you this for you to consider before we meet.
Why don't we, frankly, just make a command decision that you don't...
fart around anymore in the cantoon area.
You know what I mean?
Well, give it enough so that they fight there, but really concentrate the air power where the real battle is to be fought.
Put it there.
In other words, the enemy concentrates.
Maybe we'd better concentrate where it counts.
That's right, sir.
I think the problem in Khantoum is if they move the few forces that are in there out, they'll get ambushed on the road, and that'll be the end of it.
Yeah.
I think they feel it's the best thing to do.
Well, maybe, as you say, they fight very well when they're...
When they're cornered, they fight.
Yeah.
Fine.
Which is a bad...
But you have no information on Hue except that you still have that good division there, right?
The good division's there, and we know that some of the units out of Quantree have joined.
Some have gotten through?
Yes, sir.
We don't have precise unit identifications.
But the last report we had is they're trying to tell you... You see, if they start shelling Hue, the city, then...
The bars are off with regard to bombing the dikes, right?
Yes, sir.
Don't you agree?
Yes, I do.
Okay, bye.
Bye.

NARA Description

On May 2, 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked on the telephone from 4:49 pm to 4:51 pm. The White House Telephone taping system captured this recording, which is known as Conversation 023-114 of the White House Tapes.

Nixon Library Finding Aid

Conversation No. 23-114

Date: May 2, 1972
Time: 4:49-4:51 pm
Location: White House Telephone

Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked with the President.

[See also Conversation No. 334-36A]

     Haig's location

     Vietnam
          -News reports
                -Hue
                      -Nationalist fervor
                           -Publicity
          -South Vietnam
                -Officials
                      -Movement of families
          -Air power
                -Concentration
                      -Kontum
                           -Ambush
          -South Vietnam
                -Fighting abilities
                -Divisions
                      -Break-throughs
                           -Unit identification
                -Hue
                      -North Vietnamese shelling
                            -US retaliation
                                 -North Vietnamese dikes

Also recorded on May 2, 1972

  • 023-112 4:38 PM · 9 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull talked on the telephone from 4:38 pm to 4:39 pm.
  • 334-034 4:38 PM · 10 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Stephen B. Bull met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:38 pm to 4:39 pm.
  • 023-113 4:40 PM · 39 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. talked on the telephone from 4:40 pm to 4:41 pm.
  • 334-035 4:40 PM · 30 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and Alexander M. Haig, Jr. met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building from 4:40 pm to 4:41 pm.
  • 334-036 4:41 PM · 1 hr 17 min — President Richard M. Nixon, H. R. ("Bob") Haldeman, Alexander M. Haig, Jr., Manolo Sanchez, White House operator, Tricia Nixon Cox, unknown person(s), Clyde A. Tolson, Stephen B. Bull, John D. Ehrlichman, Ronald L. Ziegler, and Helen Gandy met in the President's office in the Old Executive Office Building at an unknown time between 4:41 pm and 6:17 pm.
  • 023-115 4:51 PM · 4 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:51 pm and 4:57 pm.
  • 023-116 4:57 PM · 1 min — President Richard M. Nixon and Tricia Nixon Cox talked on the telephone from 4:57 pm to 4:58 pm.
  • 023-117 4:58 PM · 11 sec — President Richard M. Nixon and the White House operator talked on the telephone at an unknown time between 4:58 pm and 5:26 pm.

All 67 conversations from May 2, 1972 →

Cite this conversation

Conversation 023-114, May 2, 1972. White House Tapes, Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum, National Archives. Audio and AI transcript via Easy Nixon, https://www.easynixon.org/tapes/023-114 (accessed September 23, 2026).